MGM

Posted on October 5, 2014 by jnmonfre

by Joanna Monfreda

Metro Goldwyn Mayer [1]

Contact Information

MGM Studios Inc.
245 N Beverly Dr.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Key Executives

Gary Barber
Chairman and CEO

[2]

Jonathan Glickman
President, Motion Picture Group

[3]

Roma Khanna
President, Television Group and Digital

[4]

Profile

History

Alfred Hitchcock serving MGM mascot Leo the Lion tea [5]

In 1924 Metro Pictures Corp., Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer merged to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a company that would go on to win 200 Academy Awards and uphold itself to an outstanding level of cinema creation. Known for films such as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and hundreds more, the film production company paved its way during the beginning days of cinema as the leading studio in the business. [I] Through their peak from the 1930s to the 1950s MGM had many contracted actors such as Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Elizabeth Taylor, and Lucille Ball. [II] Through the 1960s and 1970s, MGM studio was less successful than it had been in the golden age. In the hands of Kirk Kerkorian, many of the studio’s prized props, historical lots, and other possessions were sold. He then put most of the company’s money towards the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. [III] The studio’s downhill spiral continued into bankruptcy in 2010 where the company was in 4 billion dollars of debt and desperately needed an overhaul. Since then MGM has slowly been working on building itself back up. [IV]

Finances

MGM Holdings Inc. made $233.5 million dollars in revenue in their third quarter ending in September 2014. The quarter included the months of July, August and September. The company saw $6.5 million dollars from theatrical revenue in these three months, which came from the release of Hercules in areas where MGM controls distribution.

[6]

Their worldwide home entertainment revenue was $41.7 million. This was impacted by the home distribution release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and RoboCop.

[14]

Another $150.6 million came from worldwide television licensing this quarter. This revenue came from not only the licensing of Teen Wolf, Fargo, and Viking, but from the television licensing of Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and their horror film, Carrie. This is less than the company’s third quarter in 2013, but that is due to how much of an impact Skyfall had on the company’s revenue last year. [V]

What’s Happening Now

Orion Pictures was obtained by MGM in 1997. The studio was responsible for some of the most famous films through the 80s and 90s such as Terminator, The Silence of the Lambs, and Dances with Wolves.

[8]

After declaring bankruptcy and being acquired by MGM, the studio did not see much success. It wasn’t until this past October, that MGM released a film through the small studio.

[7]

A remake of the horror film The Town That Dreaded Sundown was released by Orion Pictures on October 16th, 2014. [VI] There hasn’t been talk of MGM pushing Orion Pictures to be a stand-alone studio, but they do have their hands in other future film distribution deals. [VI][VII]

Along with Orion Pictures, MGM is also rebuilding United Artists. This September MGM spent $343.8 million dollars on a 55% ownership in a joint venture with Roma Downey, Mark Burnett, and Hearst Entertainment’s Steven Swartz to create United Artists Media Group. This merge includes Downey and Burnett’s production companies LightWorkers Media and One Three Media. MGM originally purchased United Artists in 1981, and since then the studio has gone through many different hands.

[9]

LightWorkers Media and One Three Media are responsible for shows such as The Voice, Survivor, The Celebrity Apprentice, The Bible and Shark Tank. United Artists Media Group is now leaning towards producing more faith based content and will be launching a faith focused, subscription channel called “Over The Top” or OTT. The channel will have new and old faith focused programming including Christian music videos, and both film and television content. [VIII] The executives saw success from their spiritual driven content such as The Bible and Son of God. They seek to target audiences interested in faith and family content because their ratings have shown there is a market for it. [IX] While the MGM works to put together a team to bring OTT to life, they are also looking into other film and digital media ventures as well. [X]

[12]

MGM collaborated with Warner Brothers on If I Stay a film based on the popular, young-adult novel written by Gayle Forman. The film was made with an 11 million dollar budget, and directed by R.J. Cutler. It was released on August 22th, 2014 of this year, and closed on November 6th, 2014. Its eleven-week run grossed 78.3 million dollars worldwide. [XI]

What’s to Come

On December 17th, 2014 the last film of The Hobbit series The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will be released. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey grossed over one billion dollars worldwide, while its sequel, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug grossed 958.4 million dollars worldwide. [XII][XIII]

[10]

With such a large fan base, there are high expectations for the amount of money the ending film of the trilogy will bring the studio. [XIV]

ABC has just announced a spin off of Shark Tank that will be produced by MGM’s United Artists Media Group and Sony Picture Television called Beyond the Tank.

[11]

It will be a series documenting past contestants current success and business state after being on the show. The network has called for 10 one-hour episodes, but has not released a premiere date. [XV]

On November 27th, 2014 NBC released their first trailer for A.D.: Beyond the Bible produced by MGM’s United Artists Media Group. Roma Downey and Mark Burnett will be the show’s executive producers.

[13]

The mini-series is scheduled to premiere on April 5th, 2015, which is Easter Sunday. It is a sequel to The Bible, and begins at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The series continues the story of the creation of the Christian faith. [XVI]

The company already has two films are scheduled to be released in 2015. The first, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, will be produced in collaboration with Paramount Pictures. The sequel’s theatrical release is directed by Steve Pink, and will be February 20th, 2015. [XVII] The second, in collaboration with 20th Century Fox, will be a remake of the 1982 horror film Poltergeist. It’s directed by Gil Kenan, and its release date is October 26th, 2015. [XVIII]

[I] MGM History mgm.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[II] The Historic MGM Studios seeing-stars.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[III] MGM Again: 87 Years of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio History moviefanfare.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[IV] MGM Files for Bankruptcy Protection nytimes.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[V] MGM Third Quarter Financial Report mgm.com. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
[VI] Iconic Film Company Orion Pictures Returns After 15 Years slashfilm.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014
[VII] MGM Quietly Revives Orion Pictures deadline.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
[VIII] MGM, LightWorkers Media and One Three Media Merge mgm.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[IX] Mark Burnett: MGM Deal Will Drive Faith and Family Channel variety.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[X] Creation of the United Artists Media Group deadline.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
[XI] If I Stay Box Office Results boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XII] The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey Box Office Results boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XIII] The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Box Office Results boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XIV] The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Trailer Release variety.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XV] Inspired by the success of “Shark Tank” ABC Announces Launch of “Beyond the Tank” mgm.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XVI] NBC’s “A.D.” Trailer Promo Released: Riveting Portrayal of Passion of Christ christiantimes.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XVII] Details of Hot Tub Time Machine 2 ropeofsilicon.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[XVIII] Details of Poltergeist Remake ropeofsilicon.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.

[1] MGM logo mgmlogo.jpg. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[2] Gary Barber socialregister.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[3] Jonathan Glickman socialregister.co.uk.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[4] Roma Khanna deadline.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[5] Alfred Hitchcock Serving Leo the Lion instagram.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
[6] Hercules imdb.com. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
[7] The Town that Dreaded Sundown imdb.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
[8] Orion Pictures manlymovie.net. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
[9] United Artist Media Group insidetv.ew.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
[10] Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies imdb.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[11] Shark Tank imdb.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[12] If I Stay imdb.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[13] A.D.: Beyond the Bible comingsoon.net. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[14] RoboCop imdb.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.

Hearst Television

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Apollonia Maldonato

By Apollonia Maldonato

Photo courtesy of hearsttelevision.com

Hearst Television Inc.

300 W 57th St.

New York, NY, 10019 United States

(212) 887-6800

http://www.hearsttelevision.com

About Hearst Television Inc. [1]

Hearst Television Inc. is the broadcasting arena of the Hearst Corporation. It is comprised of 29 television stations and two radio stations. Its stations reach as many as 18% of households in the United States spanning over two dozen markets. It is one of the nation’s largest television groups. The company owns several ABC and NBC affiliate stations. They also have two radio stations in Baltimore as well as two CBS affiliate stations. Hearst Television leads the convergence of local broadcast television and the Internet through its partnership with Internet Broadcasting. The company started trading privately in 2009 after becoming privately owned by Hearst Corporation.

Key Executives:

David J. Barrett [2], Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hearst Television Inc. began working for Hearst Corporation in 1984 as the general manager of the company’s Baltimore radio stations. He was appointed CEO of the company in 2001. Barrett has received several awards in the industry including being inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2008 and being named Broadcasting & Cable magazine’s 2004 “Broadcaster of the Year.” Jordan Wertlieb [3], President of Hearst Television, began working for Hearst Corporation 1993 and was named the company’s president in December 2012. He also serves as the President- Chairman of the NBC Affiliate board.

Frank Biancuzzo [4], Senior Vice President of Hearst Television, began working for the company in 1995 when he served as the Vice President of Marketing and Promotion. He later became the President of the Hearst Television ABC station in Milwaukee from 2002 until 2007. He was appointed to be a Senior Vice President in 2007. He also has a role of Hearst Television Group Head.

John J. Drain [5], Senior Vice President of Finance, began working at Hearst in 2010 when he was appointed the Senior VP of Finance. Before working for Hearst Television, he was the Vice President of Finance and Administration for the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable Corporation, Comcast Spotlight.

Click for more information on important people at Hearst Television

Competition [6]

Some major industry competitors of Hearst Television are:

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.
Raycom Media Inc.
Local TV, LLC

Financials [7]

The last annual report available to the public was published in 2008. During this year the the company had earned $755,738 in revenue. In 2009, Hearst Corporation acquired Hearst- Argyle and it became Hearst Television, a wholly owned component of the company. Since the acquisition, it is no longer a publically traded company and its financial statements are unavailable. However, according to Crain’s New York Business, the company has earned a revenue of almost $10 billion, a $1 billion increase from its 2012 revenue which was slightly more than $9 billion. [8]

Brief History [9]

Photo courtesy of onedomain.com

Hearst Corporation was founded in 1928 when it entered the broadcasting world by acquiring WSOE Radio Milwaukee. Since its original acquisition, the company has bought out dozens of other TV and radio stations. Hearst merged with Argyle Television in 1997 to form Hearst- Argyle Television. The company was publicly traded, first on Nasdaq until 1998 and then transferred to the New York Stock Exchange where it was public until 2009 when the company became wholly owned by Hearst Corporation. The name was officially changed to Hearst Television.

Hearst Television’s Current Expenditures:

Hearst Television’s Upward Spiral

Photo courtesy of cronkiteaward.org

Although Hearst Television is not a commonly spoke of company, its role in political coverage through the years has made Hearst Television a staple in news broadcasting. A challenge for the entirety of Hearst Corporation is finding new businesses that can help define the future of Hearst. The company is currently spiraling upwards, and Hearst Corporation CEO, Steven Swartz and Hearst Television CEO, David Barrett, are striving to find new ways to keep the company heading in this direction. The company has won six consecutive Walter Cronkite Awards for its coverage of politics and is the media leader in political coverage. The Hearst Television group has been successful in local advertising as well as solid coverage of elections. [10]

Improving the TV Viewing Experience

An article published by TV Technology on November 7 stated that Hearst Television Inc has fully incorporated Matrix Solutions’s web-based media CRM and sales analytics solution into all of its TV stations. The complete implementation process took a total of ten weeks to complete. According to Al Lustgarten, vice president of IT for Hearst Television, “Hearst Television’s objective was to find a CRM solution with a partner that understands the broadcast business model and could provide software as a service model.” The Matrix system allows access by means of the web or mobile device. It normalizes data saving time in analyzing it. This is extremely useful at a corporate level. [11]

Hearst vs. Aereo: A Copyright Fight

Hearst Television appeared in federal last month in a plea to shut down the internet streaming website startup, Aereo. The federal court denied Hearst’s request and decision could lead to a supreme court case. The website is unlawfully using copyrighted content from WCVB, Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate Boston TV station, for profit. The law suit was originally filed by Hearst in July. The Judge had decided that the compnay did not make its case and the victory went to Aereo. However, other major broadcasters are fighting the same battle with Aereo’s, so-called, unconstitutional practices. [12]

A Visit to UNC Chapel Hill

Just last week, Hearst Televsion CEO, David Barrett and ABC News President, Ben Sherwood headlined at the Wade H. Hargrove Communications Law and Policy Colloquium at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The two men shared their own remarks on what they believed would be the “Future of Televsion News.” they then engaged in an open discussion with the audience. During his visit, Barrett shared a conversation with Dean Susan King of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The two discussed disruptive media in today’s culture as well as the reputation Hearst strives to uphold in society. [13]

Conversation between David Barrett and Dean of UNC Chapel Hill School of Journalism

Support of New Technologies: Investment in Roku

Photo courtesy of amazon.com

Roku, an internet set-top box company, had earned $60 million in funding. One of the companies that invested in Roku was Hearst Television. The company sells softball size boxes that allow consumers to stream music and videos. Roku is currently collaborating with consumer-electronics to have merchandise with Roku readily installed.The Senior Managing Director at Hearst, Ken Bronfin, said in a statement about Roku’s product that Hearst is very impressed about the unique position that Roku has constructed in the media market and they anticipate working with them to develop other innovative services for television audiences. CEO of Roku is grateful for the recognition of his brand’s potential success in the market and belief in the Roku platform. Hearst’s, along with other companys’ generous funding was necessary for this product to potentially re-frame future television consumer experiences. [14]

Hearst Ahead of the Times: The Next Generation Newsroom

Hearst Television’s new project, The Next Generaton Newsroom, is giving reporters, photographers, and producers the latest technology so they can update news on all platforms. The state of the arc technology has changed the way the newsrooms operate. Although the consumers do notice the change, they expect it. Brian Bracco, Vice President of News at Hearst Television Inc. states that with all of the new platforms and methods of spreading news, there is no more exciting time than the present to be in the media business. [15]

Watch “The Next Generation Newsroom” Video

Conclusion

Over the years, Hearst Television has developed innovative ways to better the TV viewing experience. The company has earned a renowned reputation due to its outstanding coverage on politics. Hearst continues to strive to be one of the best television companies in this fast paced world.

Sources

[1] About Hearst Televsion

[2] David J. Barrett

[3] Jordan Wertlieb

[4] Frank Biancuzzo

[5] John J. Drain

[6] Competition

[7] Financial Information

[8] More Financials

[9] History of Hearst

[10] Hearst on a role

[11] Implementing Matrix Solutions